Loose Ends
by Lou Serbio
Summary: Movie-verse.  Answers to questions the movie left us to ask.  Chapter 1.


Thursday, March, 14, 2011, 9:07AM.

Mr. Britt Reid, an Owner/Publisher of _The Daily Sentinel, _a masked vigilante who fights crime as The Green Hornet, and a current victim of a police-inflicted gunshot, dozed in a hospital bed. Of course, everyone in the continental United States assumes The Hornet shot Reid in revenge.

A day after surgery, Britt was confined to a windowless, police-protected hospital room. Visitation rights were restricted to Mike Axford, his Editor-in-Chief, Kato, his Chief Executive Associate, and Lenore Case, his recently-promoted Personal Assistant, who at this moment entered the room carrying a bouquet of get-well flowers. Then, after a thorough search from the officer on-watch, a delivery man hauled in a push cart with more, giant-sized arrangements from co-workers, friends and business acquaintances.

"Good morning, Mr. Reid," Lenore cheerily greeted while directing the delivery person to distribute the well-wishing gifts.

Brit awakened, astonished to hear and see Lenore and the multitude of flowers, and sleepily exclaimed, "Wow! Looks as if an 'assassination attempt' gained me some sympathy,"

As he was neither fully awake nor accustomed to his dual identity, Britt used finger-quotes while uttering, "assassination attempt." Luckily, the middle-aged delivery man was preoccupied with setting down flowers to notice such a gaffe. But Lenore noticed, thanked and graciously tipped the deliverer, and closed the door after his departure. During that, Britt elevated his bed to its sitting-position.

The beautiful, slender blonde, clad in white jeans and a teal shirt, raised the television volume to muffle their conversation, and her scolding, "_Finger quotes_, Britt? Are you kidding me? If either that man or the cop saw you do that…" Lenore then angrily pointed her right index finger at him, silently completing her thought.

Britt winced, not at any shoulder pain, but at the admonishment. It reminded him of his failure to press a record button of his DAT while speaking to the then-living, blackmailing Frank Scanlon.

"Ms. Case, I'm so relieved to see you," he continued the last name basis. It seemed to alleviate her seething disappointment.

"I'm equally relieved you are recovering well," Lenore responded with a grin. "Are you up to discuss business this morning?"

"Conducting business…now? " Britt slowly inclined his bed while glancing at his limited attire and covers, and continued with, "I must admit, while _I'm _bedridden in this gown; it's kind of awkward."

"Very well, then," she retorted and turned on her heel to leave.

"No, no, please, stay for a bit," Britt halted her, despite how much he enjoyed his favorite visual while she departed any room. "Distract me from this horrible place; _Sentinel_ or Hornet business?"

"Both." Lenore pulled up a chair beside the bed, close enough for them to hear each other without yelling over the TV volume. "Firstly, Kato switched the bullet and retrieved the cloth."

The young publisher looked baffled; a habit that she and Kato felt needed to stop soon. "I'm sorry? What cloth?"

His former secretary sighed. "A miniscule piece of your coat was pushed in by the bullet. Had forensics been given the chance to examine its color, the findings would have been enough to suspect you."

Britt shifted his frame upward, and quietly deduced, "Son of a bitch- my green coat!"

Lenore could have sworn she saw the proverbial light bulb turn on above his head.

"So Kato pulled off the bullet switch," Britt assumed, and gently pumped his right fist in triumph.

"Yes, and he's the better one to detail that particular feat," Lenore confirmed. "Needless to say, the used bullet the doctors have now is untraceable."

"Good. But before my anesthesia I did overhear their concerns," Britt announced. "They immediately noticed that my wound wasn't fresh."

"Well, that's because they are excellent doctors, Britt," she analyzed. "But I gambled on their exercising doctor/patient confidentiality."

"Still, I thought bullet wounds needed to be reported to police."

"Dozens of police officers and several detectives witnessed the Green Hornet shooting you," she assured him. "Their case was open and shut right then and there."

Britt uncomfortably shifted up in his bed again. "I'll trust you and Kato on that."

One second after Lenore was visually taken aback by his declaration of faith, an attractive African American nurse entered the room, and sauntered beside him to check the morphine drip. "Are you comfortable, sir?" the, shapely nurse politely asked.

"If I wasn't before, baby, I most certainly am now," Britt answered with a voice that he thought had charming potential, but she obliviously left. Lenore rolled her eyes, after which Britt reacted with another smile. The door was then closed; back to business.

She continued her informational input by saying, "The late Frank Scanlon."

Britt closed his eyes, and whispered through gritted teeth, "He murdered my father."

"I-I know," Lenore quietly responded, and lowered her head in shared sorrow. "I am…so sorry."

"Scanlon deserved to die, Ms. Case, because God knows how many other lives he destroyed," Britt said with steadfastness unheard by even him. "Yet, The Green Hornet and his partner will be wanted for the killing of a beloved District Attorney. So hell, that kind of puts a damper on the heroic aspect of what we do, doesn't it?"

"Britt, before you start getting all The Punisher on me, let me…"

"Wait, wait, and_ wait_!" His demeanor suddenly lit up like sunshine. "How in the world do _you_ know about the Punisher?"

"I minored in Criminology," Lenore reminded him. "I felt that comic book character is a superb study in vigilantism."

Wow. She's hot, intelligent, _and_ a comic book geek, Britt only thought.

"Now please hush up and listen. Scanlon's insatiable hunger for power made him careless," she said. "He nearly was caught with your taping, but…"

"Good Lord, don't remind me," Britt responded. As he said, The Green Hornet is known as a cold-blooded murderer of the L.A. County District Attorney. Until then, they were only wanted for crimes they were pretending to commit, otherwise a ruse to help innocents. "I had him cold."

"Britt Reid, do _not_ interrupt me again!" Lenore commanded with such explicit discipline that Britt literally bit his tongue. She calmed down, and then continued with a compressed enthusiasm, "Scanlon also completely neglected _The Sentinel'_s security cameras in use all over the printing press room; hell, all over the entire building!"

Her announcement took some time to process, but eventually sank through the morphine. After Kato rammed the Black Beauty into Scanlon, ensuring the D.A.'s death, Britt felt emptier rather than better. The fact that Scanlon was sloppy did not excessively change things for The Green Hornet, but the law _might_ be kept at bay.

"You mean Scanlon was even stupider than I am?" Reid asked incredulously.

Lenore literally waved off the label. "You aren't stupid."

"Really, you mean that?" He beamed. The good news just kept on coming.

"You're ageist, egotistical, hypocritical, juvenile, obnoxious, sexist…" Lenore did not stop this list with a finite inflection, but Britt surprisingly nodded after each adjective. Ultimately, Lenore did end with, "but you are _not_ stupid."

"Thank you." He answered, and they both chuckled at that conclusion. Britt sighed and said, "So Kato was wrong about only one thing, at least. There is _some _justice."

"Next time, don't kill the villain before they confess their evil plans," she said, and then shook her head in the negative. "On second thought, don't kill, especially if you truly want to separate yourself from your villainous persona."

She poured a glass of water for Britt, but he turned it down.

"I'm drinking very little," he said, believing he was either regressing to infancy or progressing to elderliness with this second recent diaper -fitting.

"Criminals, and faux-criminals, inflicted excessive damage to the _Sentinel_," Lenore continued. "Our offices will be temporarily relocated to determine if the building is up to code for reconstruction."

"Look, I will spare no expense to cover whatever our insurance doesn't," Britt Reid responded with conviction. His attitude about the news staple of Los Angeles County had shifted considerably since Scanlon revealed himself to be dirty, and that James Reid had not caved into such corruption.

"Good to hear," she tapped her PDA.

"Listen, Ms. Case, I did request you stay and I truly appreciated the visit. But I'm _really_ starting to feel vulnerable in this attire, or lack thereof," he said, while he shifted in his bed yet again.

Lenore could not help but laugh. Britt was curious as to why, and his expression asked the question for him.

"Based on your exploits documented in _The National Enquirer,"_ she announced through guffaws, "Talking business while diapered should be piddling to you."

Britt momentarily pondered that, and then joined her in the hilarity with his own laughter.

The Green Hornet evolution continues.


End file.
